TD Bank That Already Has Several AI-Based Products, Doubles Down With Acquisition of Layer 6

As this article point out, TD Bank already has significant investments in AI:

“The acquisition of Layer 6 AI builds on a very impressive record of accomplishments by TD in building its capabilities with artificial intelligence. They include the following, according to Street Insider:

*TD is collaborating with the Vector Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which is developing the next generation of AI technologies.

*TD recently announced an agreement with leading conversational AI provider, Kasisto to integrate the company’s KAI Banking platform into TD’s top-ranked mobile app.

*TD recently collaborated with Amazon to introduce new voice banking “skills” on Alexa.

*TD was the first financial institution in Canada to offer a chatbot on Twitter to empower our customers to get instant help on select general inquiries.

*Committed to the future development of data and analytics talent – a critical and foundational need for successful AI solutions – TD is funding new initiatives at both Western University in London, Ontario and the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.”

These initiatives are much more advanced than most banks, except the very largest, can fund. That said, TD Bank appears to have bypassed the use of AI to automate internal business processes such as those typical in Day 2 Operations, as was identified as an opportunity in the Mercator publication “Now is the Time to Develop an AI Business Plan Beyond Fraud.”

But TD Bank has now doubled down with the acquisition of Layer 6:

“Layer 6 AI was launched in 2016, and the startup uses AI in its platform to analyze various forms of data to learn and anticipate an individual customer’s needs. Layer 6 founders Tomi Poutanen and Jordan Jacobs are also co-founders of the Vector Institute, a world leader in AI research and education that TD also supports.

The company’s platform allows financial institutions to use the most advanced Machine Learning solutions through a world-leading Artificial Intelligence prediction engine for enterprise data. This allows the bank to anticipate how to provide each customer with a better, more personalized experience.

Layer 6 has also been recognized for its leading accuracy in real-time personalization and prediction through engagements with global companies and as a winner of the 2017 RecSys Challenge by a wide margin over top international AI labs.”

It will be interesting to see exactly how TD Bank leverages this new asset.